Moranis' and Thomas' success became a burden after they made the cover of Rolling Stone under the headline The McKenzie Brothers - SCTV's Best Joke. The rest of the SCTV cast were displeased. Bob and Doug were also featured in a Playboy article, 1982.

In Canada they were legendary and mobbed wherever they went. Their main audience in the States, according to Thomas, was comprised of drunks, jocks, and heavy-metal rockers. Their lives became a blur of limo rides during the tours of publicity for PolyGram, and they burned out. By the time they made the movie Strange Brew, Thomas began to hate the whole thing. Moranis didn't even stick around for the editing process. MGM did not put effort into publicizing it, and it had a mediocre $2 mill opening in the States. It won Canada's Golden Reel Award as the highest-grossing movie of the year.